Complex as he is colorful, Phil Jackson has led an improbable basketball life, marching to the tune of his own iconoclastic drummer and managing to win at every level along the way.

He doesn't think like an average jock, nor does he approach his game like one: just ask Michael Jordan or Shaquille O’Neal, who've played better for him than for anyone else.

Complex as he is colorful, Phil_Jackson has led an improbable basketball life, marching to the tune of his own iconoclastic drummer and managing to win at every level along the way.

He doesn't think like an average jock, nor does he approach his game like one: just ask Michael Jordan or Shaquille O'Neal , who've played better for him than for anyone else.

Roland Lazenby couldn't have come up with a better title for his compelling exploration of what makes Jackson tick and how he evolved into one of the most successful and driven coaches in NBA history; for Jackson, the joy of his game is every bit as cerebral and psychological as it is physical.
His aim, he says, is to help his players "strengthen the muscle of their minds."

Of course, Jackson - part shaman, part shrink, part mentor, part guide - has found some fascinating ways to strengthen his own, including LSD, meditation, Zen, Native American culture, William James's Varieties of Religious Experience, and the Grateful Dead.

They are as much a part of Jackson's evolving core as pounding the offensive boards with the Knicks and warring with Bulls' management. If some of it seems contradictory, it is those very contradictions - more than the seven championship rings as a coach and two as a player - that make Jackson so interesting; they have helped him reshape and redefine the job.

"Somehow," writes Lazenby, "Jackson has managed the very difficult feat of blending fun and discipline and spiritual exploration for his teams, sort of like combining a trip to the dentist with a carnival ride."

No other coach has learned to walk that delicate balance so gracefully. But then, balance is Jackson's operating metaphor: keeping himself - and his teams - in balance while keeping opponents off theirs.

Jackson’s chronicle of his final season as the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers moves as crisply as a well-executed fast break.
Under his direction, the Lakers won three NBA titles, but failed to reach the championship round in 2003.

One of the most successful coaches in the history of Basketball offers his personal account of a season like no other-the extraordinary ride of the 2003-2004 Los Angeles Lakers.

From the signing of the future Hall-of-Famers Karl Malone and Gary Payton , to the intricacies of managing difficult relationships and public feuds, facing Shaq's injuries, contract disputes, and team meltdowns, all in the shadow of the Kobe Bryant trial-slash-media circus, Phil Jackson somehow guided his team through to its fourth NBA Finals in his five years as its coach.

With explosive revelations and never-before-told insights, Phil_Jackson brings to life this amazing season coaching a team as talented, and as troubled as any he's ever known.

Jackson’s chronicle of his final season as the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers moves as crisply as a well-executed fast break. Under his direction, the Lakers won three NBA titles, but failed to reach the championship round in 2003.

Determined to make another run at the finals in the 2003–2004 season, the Lakers added Hall of Fame players Karl Malone and Gary Payton to a team that already featured superstars Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. But instead of producing another ring, the Lakers were crushed in the finals by the Detroit Pistons .

That the Lakers even reached the last round of the playoffs was a feat given the turmoil that surrounded the team (involving the animosity between Shaq and Bryant, and Bryant’s rape charge).

Jackson briefly critiques the Lakers’ biggest games of the regular season and analyzes each playoff performance, providing fresh insight without boring readers with play-by-play accounts.

He peppers the narrative with pungent observations of his stars—and it’s no surprise that he saves his sharpest criticisms for Bryant. While Shaq could be difficult to deal with, Jackson contends, he was ultimately a team player.
And although Shaq and Bryant reached a truce in the season’s final months, Jackson sees Bryant as the epitome of today’s selfish player, a "callous gun for hire."

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